المستخلص: |
Being the fundamental element in providing quality education, teachers should regularly improve their teaching practices through professional development (PD). However, due to the lack of ‘organizational partnership models’ in Algerian universities, novice teachers have to rely on personal endeavours (individual models) to develop the skills necessary for their careers. It is worth noting that the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education issued a Decision N°932, on July 28th, 2016, that plans to provide 130 hours of pedagogical training to novice teachers during their first year. Yet, this training is not enough, as it is only for employment and job recognition. Furthermore, due to the new policy for learning English, it is time to make decisions on implementing pertinent and continuous professional development programmes for the benefits of university teachers, particularly EFL teachers. Thus, this study aims at exploring a lifelong PD programme model to be pursued at the University. The study probes the perceptions of experienced and novice teachers at Adrar University as a case study towards effective professional development using Online Google Forms. Hence, this study adopts a quantitative paradigm as it seeks a pragmatic understanding to measure teachers’ opinions toward implementing effective PD programmes that designers should consider. The findings revealed that PD activities, as viewed by teachers to progress professionally, were individual work. The study also displayed that collaborative activities among teachers for their PD were the least frequent that teachers engage in. Professional development is viewed as very important. PD has multiple impacts on both teachers and their learners. Finally, the current study recommends that policymakers think of teaching as a continuous professional activity which, therefore, requires serious consideration to implement an organized professional development programme ready to assist teachers in their lifelong learning.
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